Colony 6: Inland Sea
by DarkBeta
Summary: AU. See, there is a way to leave war and bloodshed behind! Maybe . . . .
1. It Will Happen on a Holiday

Colony 6: Inland Sea I, by DarkBeta

_(Ruruoni Kenshin is not mine. This first chapter is a boring list of names and relations. If you can slog thru it, i think the next one will be better. [kowtows abjectly])_

[Tokyo, sakura season, 1881]

Shura was proud, watching Uncle Iwa greet the passengers for the Yasuo's maiden voyage. Nineteen passages from Kyoto to Edo (well, eightteen if she counted only the ones who paid) was not a bad start. The hidden compartments belowdeck were mostly empty, but that was just as well. The hold full of overpriced pottery and a crate of kitchen knives made for a good, legitimate cargo.

They couldn't afford enough wood to make firing up the engine worthwhile, this voyage, so wind would blow the ship's stinks forward. The Yasuo's stern cabin went to Fujita Goro's household (a sword-carrying policeman, his wife, two sons, and a couple of servants), returning to Edo from a stint in Kyoto.

(You were supposed to call the city Tokyo now, but that would never last. The port had always been Edo. In a few more years the name the politicians gave it would be forgotten.)

Fujita didn't pay the full price, but having him on board was like a free pass through customs. Friendly relations with authority were money in the bank for a new business. By the next trip she'd be able to afford better-forged identity papers.

The Aioya Inn staff, vacationing together, got the forecabin since they might be noisy. Misao, the girl who made the arrangements, was absurdly young and enthusiastic. She and the other women were pretty enough that the inn probably got good business, with two burly young men to keep an eye on the ruder customers, but the elderly owner was well into a second childhood. It was the only reason Shura didn't put a dagger in him when he groped her.

The government had closed many temples, dispossessing the monks and acolytes. The unworldly young man traveling with the Aioya party might hope for an adoption by marriage. Misao seemed to favor that plan.

The two tiny cabins amidship went to a small family of shopkeepers and a couple traveling to Tokyo to visit the wife's sister. The last passenger, a potter accompanying his shipment, put a hand on his sword (and how had he gotten that past the port inspectors?) and promised his assistance against hypothetical pirates. Shura had no fear of pirates at all, but she found herself agreeing. At least he didn't talk her into supplying his sake.

When Kenshin left them she and Uncle Iwa and Sarujiro had been penniless, homeless and, worst of all, shipless. In ports bustling with new, strange trade, two skilled sailors could find a series of short-term berths though. That Sarujiro was mute – and his 'older brother' not much more talkative – was no disadvantage for some employers. Iwa-jii kept accounts and traded some small things.

Shura did not intend that she and hers would serve the rest of their lives on another captain's ship. She'd known the resting place of a few wrecks. (Who better than the pirates who left them there?) Once they had a small fund collected, they floated decking from another boat to an intact hull, patched the sails from a third ship, carried the enging from a half-burnt hulk on an awkward raft.

A few times they could afford to hire help. More often they had to leave Iwa-jii to discourage salvagers while she and Sarujiro earned another installment of funds. When the Yasuo first rolled upright in the smooth swells beyond the surf, she'd been prouder of their work than she ever was coming home after a raid.

She had contacts now, names that might appreciate discrete transport. She couldn't resist showing off their gains to the red-headed swordsman and his friends She sent a letter to the woman's dojo, inviting them to meet her at the headland and finish the journey into Edo harbor.

The names of the tall fighter and the little boy slipped her mind. The letter just suggested that Kenshin bring his friends.

A day out from Kyoto, the girl from the Aoiya let slip who Goro was. Saito Hajime. The Wolf of Mibu. Now a police spy, trusted by the Meiji to bring down even his former compatriots. A swordsman whose motto was, Kill evil instantly.

She hoped briefly for coincidence. Perhaps with the rest of the world he supposed Shura the Pirate (abruptly fallen from sight a year or so past, and the ship's crew as well) a young man instead of a woman. He smiled the next time he saw her though. She felt a moment of rage that made her want to beat the smile from his face, and terror that kept her frozen.

He knew.

He didn't try to arrest her. Perhaps he enjoyed seeing the knowledge in her. Perhaps he was waiting for her response. She thought of steering out to sea and opening the cocks, or running the Yasuo into hull-ripping reefs. It would be a better end than the execution ground for her and hers. Let the landsman smile then!

The other passengers were innocent. She could not risk the Arai's little boy, or the sweet married couple who ran a beef pot restaurant, or even the staff of the Aioya as they busily tried to push together the owner's daughter and her shy suitor.

She knew the secret harbors of other pirates; she'd heard rumors of strange ships or smuggled weapons; and Western ships that went to odd ports. Perhaps she could trade information for -- not her own life; that was forfeit -- but the lives of her crew. Their only crime was loyalty to her. Surely the Wolf knew an old man and a mute boy were no threat to Meiji.

Fear wore out. Despair followed. She'd failed to lead in her father's place, failed to keep her crews on an honorable path, failed to feed the fishing villages that lived on the edge of hunger. She'd failed in her hope of living a respectable life, and she'd failed the two men who never wavered in loyalty to her.

Iwa and Sarujiro knew something was wrong, but she didn't speak. Alone in her bunk she looked at a folded kimono. She couldn't let herself cry even then.

When the Yasuo lodged on the gravel beach, Shura saw eleven people lined the embankment instead of the four she expected. It added nothing to her troubles. The Yasuo's draft was shallow, and the tide rising. She set planks out so the new passengers could come aboard without wetting their sandals . . . much.

Kaoru walked up lambasting Kenshin for the mud on the hem of her festival kimono, and Yahiko for jeering. A tall beauty hinted that Kenshin should carry her, as he blinked and muttered, "Oro?" The fighter Sanosuke volunteered. He tripped and landed flat in the mud. The woman minced across him.

After her came an old man and two little girls, a pale man who smiled at Sanosuke and scribbled notes, and a businesswoman mirroring the woman who went to meet her sister. Lastly Yahiko gave a hand to a stumbling, blushing girl.

Kenshin froze with a hand on his sword. Goro leaned across the railing by the pilothouse.

"You!" Kaoru screeched up at him. "What are you doing here? Forget about it! Kenshin's not working for you ever again!"

Shura, who'd paid more attention to the swordsman than his companions, felt her jaw drop. Was the girl insane, or just insanely brave? Goro smiled.

"If he's needed, that won't be your decision, tanuki-girl." He looked down at Shura. "What's the delay? I have an appointment at the customs house."

"Maa, maa. We should all be less serious on a day of relaxation, that we should,"

Kenshin shrank almost visibly from a warrior to a hobo, and continued onto the deck. Kaoru, the boy, the tall fighter, and the beauty followed him.

"Soon, lord. The wind is with us," Shura told Goro, as humble as if Shura and the Kairyu pirates never existed, "It will be a three hour journey."

They were still so near the coast that they could see pale aisles of cherry flowers, when the wind died and fog came up about them. The Yasuo lurched like a netted fish, and a light like torches made even sunlight unsure.

It reflected yellowly from Kenshin's odd lavender eyes. He dropped into a swordsman's crouch, his hand on the sword hilt. Sanosuke cracked the knuckles of his bandaged hand. Kaoru raised a wooden sword and Yahiko a bamboo one, as if those weapons would be any use.

Goro's sword was already drawn. He stood on the upper deck, his back to Kenshin. Below him on the deck, his shock-headed servant squinted at the fog.

"Go to your cabins," Shura told the passengers, not trying to disguise a captain's command.

She let the nunchuks drop from the sleeve of her kimono. She might not understand why or how, but her instincts agreed with those of the other fighters. Threat was near.

Only Kenshin was looking up though, when something huge and bright and quick as a dragon stooped upon them.

_All in all, those in power found the disappearance a relief. No politician could trust a man whose motto was, Slay Evil Instantly, and the former Battousai, however useful in an emergency, had been a loose cannon with no rein of self-interest. That they'd taken with them a writer of criminal broadsheets and the surviving Kyoto onmitsu only gilded the sweet. As for further plots against Tokyo or the Meiji government, well, that was what the clan of assassins was for. Although it was disconcerting to deliver black envelopes to a cherry tree . . . ._


	2. Waking Up Blind

Colony 6, Chapter 2, by DarkBeta

**[Inland Sea, Morning of the First Day]**

In the dark Arai Seiku wasn't sure where he was, or where anyone was. He lay still, remembering shouts and fire in the night, and his mother's voice as they crouched under a storehouse floor -- 'You must be quiet now.'

"Are you there, dear?"

In the country Azusa had different memories of the war. Her voice was uncertain, but a signpost all the same. It boxed limitless night into their screened section of the Yasuo's hold, and barred slaughter behind a fence of years.

"Iori?" he asked, and his hand found her shoulder.

"He's asleep. I just woke up. Dear, what's happening?"

"Girls? Children? Don't sleep now. You're missing the boat trip."

An old man's voice rose in worry. He was one of the new passengers from Tokyo. He'd introduced himself, but Seiku couldn't remember his name.

"Has someone burnt charcoal with the windows shut?" Sae of the Shirobeko asked, and then answered herself, "Sister, surely no-one would be so foolish!"

"Does anyone suffer from headache or reduced dexterity?"

The intimidating woman was another day-tripper. He thought she was part of the old man's household, though she seemed more than friendly with the swordsman Kenshin.

"This one is well," Madame Saito called from the back cabin. "My sons are just waking, but they seem in good health."

"We're not suffering from bad air then. Dr. Gensai, I don't know a medicine that causes this sudden a sleep, with so few effects afterward. Do you recognize it?"

"An old man like myself knows more of cuts and broken bones, Miss Takani."

Seiku moved a screen aside and stood up. He stooped a little to keep from clipping his head on the deck planks. In the corridor a little light seeped between them, enough to tell night from day. He blinked at Sae's face doubled, looking from the opposite compartment, before he remembered that her twin had just joined them.

On the voyage, keeping his family as far from the swordsman Chu as he could, he'd talked about cooking and knives with the Sae and her husband. They'd mentioned her sister in Tokyo, who also ran a restaurant, so he'd hoped for another chance to show his wares. He hadn't realized the sisters were twins until Tae and her assistant walked up the plank.

Just forming a relationship with the Shirobeko or the Aioya Inn would justify the trip to Tokyo. If someone here chose to use his knives, their quality would lead to even more demand. He might be able to take on an assistant.

Sae's husband came out to join him, leaving Sae and Tae and the maids.

"Are the swordsmen fighting up there? Is that why they sent us down here?"

"Is it pi-pirates?" Tae's assistant gulped.

"A swordfight? Pirates? I'm going to go watch!" crowed Madame Saito's younger son. "Eiji-kun, let go of me! You're not my boss!"

"Be still, both of you. Is that any way to behave?"

Seiku wanted to keep his family as far as possible from swords and swordsmen. He put a hand up to the deck to steady himself, and listened carefully. He couldn't hear the clatter of a fight, nor shouts of challenge, and not even the terrible silence of rivals facing each other in the moment before attack.

The hull shuddered so he and the Shirobeko man were tossed together. Sae and Tae clutched each other. When he looked behind him Azusa had folded over Iori, who still slept peacefully. Light glinted on her dark eyes as she looked up.

"We shouldn't stay down here in the dark. Things are different in the Meiji Era!"

oooooooo

Gulls cried overhead. The world was going up and down and up and occasionally sideways . . . . Kaoru opened her eyes. For several minutes her only concern was finding the side of the boat and hanging over the rail. When she turned around her eyes went to Kenshin first.

He sat on the deck, blinking. His teacher Hiko was close by, turned half away and drinking from his sake jug, ignoring Kenshin a little too pointedly. Sano stood cracking the knuckles of one bandaged hand in the other, with his usual uneasiness about a situation that wasn't drinking, gambling or fighting. Yahiko sprawled on his back, asleep.

Misao and Okina slumped on the deck, barely visible behind the rest of the Kyoto Oniwabanshuu. Kuro and Shiro were looking large and ogre like. Okon had a hand tucked under her kimono sleeve; Kaoru was fairly sure she had a fist full of kunai. Omasu slapped Misao methodically.

"Pretty girl," Okina murmured. "Play sexy commando with me . . . ."

Saito's fist clenched on a cheap cotton kimono held Shura in mid-air. A few paces behind him the scrawny boy, Sarujiro, shook his head and sat up. When he saw Shura his brows went down. He held a deceptively innocent reed to his mouth.

Before Kaoru could act – though she was not sure which of them she'd defend – Saito dropped Shura and drew his sword. The sheath he tossed away struck Sarujiro's head. The boy fell back.

Saito's stance was barely short of the thrust. Shura glared up at him, ignoring the blade so near her chest.

"Take us back," Saito said. "Whatever you did, undo it. My family is on this boat."

The flatness of his voice was a threat in itself. Hiko sneered.

"Never thought I'd see a wolf startled by a scuttling beach crab. What is the wench supposed to have done? Carried us up to Lake Biwa on her back?"

"Does this look like Tokyo harbor to you?" Katsuhiko added.

He and Hiko exchanged a quick secondary sneer.

Kaoru had not paid much attention to the water beyond the rail; had not cared to, in fact. She looked again.

They were not much farther from land than they had been before. The groves of cherry blossoms were gone. Low trees grew near the margin, with hills of green grass rising behind them. She could not find even one other sail on the broad water. The air smelled moist and heavy, more like a brackish river mouth than the sea.

The ship lurched, the wood hull grating on something solid. Kaoru staggered against the rail.

"We're beaching!" Shura cried. "Save it, landsman. We have to get clear before we're stranded."

"I don't think so," Kaoru said.

She wasn't even sure she'd spoken aloud, but Kenshin was at her side by the time she closed her mouth.

"Oro?"

What the ship rasped against was neither land nor seawrack. She thought the wide armored lizard was longer than the boat, but the tail sculled underwater. She could only guess how far back it went by the ripples it left.

That wasn't the end she stared at. Two eyes the size of hot-pot bowls scudded just at the surface, and then the creature yawned like an open gate. She and Kenshin and everyone who stayed at the dojo could have lined up on the lower jaw. Judging by the knifeblade teeth that railed the jaws, top and bottom, they wouldn't have stood there long.

"Make for land?" Shura's man Iwa quavered.

"Full sail," Shura agreed, and strode for the rudder as if Saito Hajime no longer existed.

Someone knocked lightly under the deck. A man Kaoru barely recognized from the start of their trip, a shy young tradesman, looked out.

"Er, is it all right? Can we come out now?"


	3. Intimations

Colony 6: Inland Sea 3, by DarkBeta

_(Shura's ship is a half-and-half, a sailing hull with a steam engine plunked into it. This works about as well as you'd expect. I rather think they're undermanned also. That she's sailed so far without major problems indicates Shura's preternatural skill! I'm not at all certain of the rig, so forgive my vagueness on that point. I did add a few paragraphs to the first chapter to explain why [beside pre-existing hostility) Saito's cabin is to the rear of the smokestack.)_

[Inland Sea, Afternoon and Evening of the First Day]

"Hard about!"

More of the lake-dragons basked on the muddy shore. They needed to find a better landing. At the bow Iwa-jii watched for shallows, with the heavy plumbline ready to cast. The wind was mild and inconstant, blowing now inshore and now offshore and now not at all. She didn't need to signal Sarujiro. He watched for cat's-paws on the water and turned the sail to catch the wind they needed.

The covey of passengers scattered out of his way. They didn't understand. They couldn't understand. Shura cursed the wind and the shore and the scaled monsters, but she could feel poor ungainly Yasuo straining to stay clear of the silt, and Iwa-jii and Sarujiro working with her so smoothly that they might share a spirit.

"Dark water!" Iwa-jii called.

A river had sliced its way down to the lake. Its delta was drowned now, by waters high enough to fill the river's mouth. The wind was stronger, funneled up along the river's course. What the gods gave, you didn't question. Shura spun the wheel again.

The current slapped at the hull, trying to toss the Yasuo back to the lake. She didn't go far up the river. She'd skulked along Japan's coastline long enough to know that even without tides rivers ebbed. A channel today could be mudflats tomorrow. Fresh water was no place for a sailor!

A wide tree, its exposed roots gripping the bank like an octopus, was the best anchorpoint she could see. The hauser was far too heavy for Iwa-jii. Shura was about to call Sarujiro to take her place at the wheel, when Kenshin's tall follower grabbed a hank of it and leapt for the bank.

He looped the hauser several times around the tree and tied it off. (Shura planned to make a better knot the minute she came ashore.) Then he dropped to his knees and kissed the muddy bank. She decided she was insulted on Yasuo's behalf.

ooooooo

Sano turned back to the ship and glared at Megumi.

"Fox-lady, tell your foxy friends to send us home!"

"Oh-ho-ho! I'm threatened by a black-faced oni. Dear Kenshin, will you protect me?"

Sano scrubbed at the mud on his face, and only made it worse. His friend Katsuhiko – whom Kaoru had never seen with more than a sardonic smile – laughed hard enough he had to lean against the cabin wall. Yahiko made a ringmaster's gesture with his bamboo sword.

"Everybody come look at the stupid rooster-head!"

"My idiot student has made such suitable friends," Hiko said.

Saito smirked. Even Tae giggled. Megumi rubbed up against Kenshin like a cat begging for attention.

"That's enough! We're going ashore."

Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's hand and jumped for the bank. She landed on her feet at least, but swayed backward, flailing. She felt a firm push at her back, and then Sano caught her hand.

"Thank you. Kenshin, what should we . . . ? Kenshin?"

"Oro-o-o."

He wasn't there when she turned around. After a moment she looked down, at a small, damp, dazed bundle by the river's edge.

"Kenshin! Get away from there! What if one of those armor-lizards is down there?"

He crab-walked backward from the water's edge so quickly it might have been funny, if Kaoru wasn't watching every ripple for eyes and sharp teeth. She clutched her bokken. The eyes were deepset, but she should strike there first. Could she gag it with the wooden sword, or wedge its jaws open?

Sano, skidding halfway down the bank himself, caught the back of Kenshin's shirt and hauled him up.

"Look at you! Kenshin, you idiot, you're dirtier than Sano! You'll have to do the laundry as soon as we get back . . . ."

She stopped, and swallowed. On the deck of the ship the laughter had ended. People looked at her as if she'd said something inappropriate. Kaoru closed her eyes.

"I think . . . I think we should go look and see where we are! Come on, Kenshin."

She slid the bokken into her sash and turned to climb. A kimono and getas were not the best costume for it. Kenshin had to catch her again, although this time he didn't fall himself, and then Sano shoved her over the rim with a hand in a rude place.

"Maa!"

Kenshin and Sano scrambled up beside her. Yahiko followed them.

"Stupid ugly hag, wants to keep all the fun for herself . . . !"

She had never seen a place so wide or so empty. By the lake was a dark border of trees and brush. Beyond it, stretching up to distant shaded foothills, was a plain of grass. She couldn't see any roads, any bridges, any villages, and the horizon was the only straight line.

"We . . . we should go back. The sun is low. We need to tell everyone . . . ."

Her voice trailed off, since she could not think what they would say, but when she turned back the others followed. Even Yahiko was silent.

ooooooo

Shura didn't like to have an open fire on her ship if she could avoid it. They built a fire up on the bank to cook rice and vegetables. By sunset the coals had burnt down, so they wouldn't be visible from a distance. If Kenshin needed a beacon though, he had a stack of scrap wood he could toss onto the coals.

In this strange place, they needed to keep a watch. He had not mentioned it as the others planned where to sleep, but he made sure he could climb the bank even without light. It was not difficult. They'd wedged a few supports among the roots, and strung cord as a kind of railing, so even the women could climb up to find some privacy.

Once the orange sun went down, and the passengers had gone back to their cabins, he came to sit with his back to the river. He'd be happier with a wall behind him, or even a tree, but those were few here. Only the necessary screens, set inland from the river, and those were too flimsy to be any use even if he wanted to sit near them.

"I will take the next watch," Shinomori said.

His approach had been silent, as suited the head of the oniwabanshu. He didn't surprise Kenshin.

"Thank you."

Shinomori didn't turn back. He stared into the dark like Kenshin, looking for some twinkle of another fire, or trying to make sense of the strange stars.

"What are you thinking?"

"The sailors on the Black Ships . . . what did they expect, when they sailed to a strange shore?"

Shinomori said nothing, but Kenshin knew he was understood. He kept his eyes on the dimming plains. Finally he added another question.

"If there are people, will we be the Black Ship here?"

Some time after that Shinomori left as silently as he'd arrived.

His next visitor wasn't silent at all. He could hear Kaoru from the time she scrambled down from the ship's rail. She started scolding before her head was over the top of the bank.

". . . chilly out and you don't even have a coat, didn't bring a mat to sit on or anything. Kenshin, you idiot."

She lifted a bulky roll from her back and slapped it down. The coals flared a little in the wind. She kicked the bamboo mat to unroll it.

"There. At least you don't have to sit on the ground, with the dew settling. I know you have to take care of us, but you need to take care of yourself too."

He'd survived the wars. He was alive twelve years after Tobashima. What part of that was not taking care of himself?

"Come on, sit down. I brought a mantle too."

Kenshin found himself pushed into place and the mantle thrown around him whether he cooperated or not, as if he were a stone Jizo. Quickly he rearranged the folds to keep his swordarm clear. Kaoru dropped onto the mat beside him.

"So much excitement today; it's no use my going to bed yet. I'll just stay up here until I feel sleepy."

He heard her rub her arms, and then fold her hands into her sleeves.

"You are cold. Take the mantle, Kaoru-dono."

"No! That's for you! I'm fine. Aren't the stars bright up there? Amazing."

She was definitely cold. He knew she was shivering. She'd said the mantle was for him though. She'd be angry if he offered it back again.

Kenshin risked moving one side of the cloak around her shoulders. He hoped she wouldn't hit him hard enough to knock him out. Who would stand guard then?

She didn't hit him. She moved closer. A little later her head leaned on his shoulder.

When she fell asleep she started to slump forward. Kenshin tried to shift her back up against his shoulder. Somehow she curled down instead, ending up with her head on his thigh and one hand clenched on his pants' leg.

This would definitely interfere with swift movement. Even so, Kenshin didn't move her.

"Mine," he thought, staring out at the dark world, and if his eyes had an assassin's fire no-one was there to see.

_(Jizo is the priest who guards the souls of children in the afterlife. His statues stand alongside roads, and it's considered kindness to provide a cape or hat to one in bad weather.)_


	4. Darkness Falls

**Colony 6, Chapter 4: Darkness Falls****, by DarkBeta**

**Inland Sea, Night of the First Day**

"Please don't wake the children?"

"Do you mind! Some of us are trying to sleep here!"

Old Iwa yawned, but Sarujiro held the oil lamp steady.

"Captain Shura, can this not wait for morning?"

"Just a minute, just a minute."

She set one last bale of printed cotton aside and opened the compartment under it. The gold lamplight gleamed on steel polished clean of any speck of rust and oiled against the salt air. When the Shogun declared Japan's coasts closed, storms didn't listen any more than the smugglers had. The crews of wrecked whaling ships might eventually have gotten home, but their harpoons had been left behind.

She wasn't used to the weight of them. She'd entrusted their use to the brawnier men of her crew, back when she trusted them. Back before they died burning. Sarujiro had to hand the lamp to Iwa to help her lift one out.

"We caught ships with these. I think they can deal with armored lizards."

No sealife, no matter how big or sturdy, was going to pen up the Yasuo in a harbor!

ooooooo

The strange stars shone as brightly as the stars at home. Leaves rustled in the subtle night wind. Something bellowed at a distance, but Kenshin felt no hostile intent. This realm was peaceful. Peaceful, and strangely empty.

They weren't alone though. Somewhere there were strangers.

The person climbing up from the boat felt wholly familiar. He didn't need to disturb Kaoru yet.

"I wondered why Miss Kaoru hadn't come back, but here she is. Sharing your sleeping mat. Kenshin, you dog!"

"Ah, no! That's not what . . . . Nothing is happening!"

Sano cracked his knuckles. His aura felt more amused than angry, but Sano's favorite sport was fighting. And, after all, Kenshin was in the wrong, being so close to Kaoru!

He tried to shift to a proper distance without waking her. She held him tightly even in her dreams. Dragging her along meant he didn't even get to the edge of the mat.

"I suppose you fools think you're keeping watch here. Idiots."

That voice brought Kenshin to his feet. Kaoru whimpered and curled herself into the fallen mantle. Sano spat.

"No reason for you to interfere, squint-eyes."

Saito must have taken off his white gloves to climb the embankment. He shook one out and began to pull it on.

"Better stop your rooster from crowing before his neck is twisted.:

"Maa, maa."

Saito drew on the second glove and laid a hand on his swordhilt. Sano's grin glinted in the dark.

"Bring it on, you bad-tempered maniac."

Kenshin tried again to interrupt.

"Sanosuke, Mister Saito, this is not a good time for fighting."

"Are you kidding? They're all good times!"

The words were Sano's, but they both looked at him. The dark hid their expressions, but both tall silhouettes radiated disbelief. The similarity was terrifying.

"Oro . . . ."

A long white coat was not the best garment in which to move unnoticed after dark. Kenshin was not surprised that Shinomori managed it..

"Onmitsu are better suited to this duty. The oniwabanshu will stand guard, later. We three have matters to discuss."

"How we got here, and where to go now, I suppose?" Saito asked, as if the topics bored him.

"Three? I don't count three!"

"A bird-brain has nothing useful to say. Sit down and stop crowing."

Sano would have charged Saito, but Kenshin put an arm in his way.

"I agree that we should discuss what has happened, that I do."

"Che! We've been dragged to a demon land, of course. I bet that train made a gateway. It's unnatural for anything to go that fast!"

"Superstition! There's only one demon here, though he tries to deny it," Saito sneered at Kenshin. "Obviously we were abducted. That pirate girl should know where they brought us."

"The familiar is easy to see; the strange, difficult. To see only what is known is to see illusion."

Shinomori's voice was controlled and even, almost too even. Saito sneered at him too.

"You've spent too much time at meditation with the priests. They've started to rub off on you."

"We would have known more before the Black Ships came, if we had chosen to see."

"Ah, this one believes we should all sit down."

He put himself between Kaoru and the argument, though it meant he squatted on bare ground. He did not expect attack, not even from Saito, but his sword arm was unencumbered now. After a moment Sanosuke sat beside him.

Kenshin had fought alone, as an assassin, as a rearguard while swordsmen less skilled and more valuable escaped, or as a skirmisher breaking the order of the enemy's attack. Even if his compatriots had been willing, they could not keep pace with a student of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.

He had been Hiko's only pupil. He was no more used to a friend at his back, than to friendship itself. The gift was unexpected, but he would not let it slip from his hand.

"Being here, how should we move?"

"We must find a strongpoint to defend."

Shinomori sat smoothly across from him. Robbed of an opponent, Saito knelt also, tugging at the inconveniently tight tubes of his European pants. He brought out a cigarette and lit it at the dimming coals.

"We need to look for civilization. Pack everyone back into the pirate-girl's boat, and go along the coastline."

"The sea is too dangerous. You saw its dragons."

"Why do you think the land is safe? Those lizards were big, but large wolves feed on larger bulls."

It was like old times, seated on guard while the Imperialists argued tactics or alliances. One fell easily into old patterns. Not that he was sworn to either Shinomori or Saito; doubtless they'd find the idea as horrifying as he did.

Kaoru's aura had kindled behind him. Saito or Shinomori would have noticed, if they weren't so focused on the argument between them. She didn't move, so he kept his position.

"So first of all tomorrow we will find a defensible point to leave those who can't fight, and then send the ship out to look for a harbor."

"No, you won't."

Kaoru stood up, her hands folded on the handle of the wooden sword. Briefly, while everyone else was seated, she could look down at their faces.

"Little girls should learn to be quiet."

This wasn't good. A comment like that was sure to make Kaoru attack him, and then Saito would stop her the most humiliating way possible . . . . Kenshin got ready to interpose himself, but Kaoru surprised him.

"You'll look like idiots if Captain Shura unhitched her boat and headed downstream while you were arguing."

Sano scrambled to his feet.

"She wouldn't. Would she?"

"She has no reason to abandon us, that she does not."

Saito drew on his cigarette, the red point brightening.

"If she's not willing to face the lake dragons by day, she won't at night."

"Okina would stop her," Shinomori added.

"You admit she could have plans of her own."

"What of it? She won't be given the chance to abandon us."

"The boat is hers, isn't it? Do you want to try sailing it, with your sons raising the sails? Or will you stand behind her at the wheel with a drawn sword? Then who's the pirate?"

"It is as I said. We should find land by the river."

For a wonder, Shinomori sounded a bit defensive. Kaoru thumped the wooden sword, as if that could take the place of swinging at somebody's head.

"Have you asked Mrs. Sae or Mr. Arai what they want to do? Your oniwabanshu guard the people of Kyoto. Does that mean you make their decisions for them?"

"The Revolution was supposed to make a world where all could find their own happiness, that it was."

Kenshin looked down to hide a grin, though he knew that hid nothing from Kaoru's opponents. His support fed Kaoru's resolution. He could feel its flame brighten.

"Tomorrow you will discuss your plans with everyone, and then we'll decide what to do. All of us ,not just the swordsmen."

"You tell them, Miss Kaoru!"

"Battousai, make your girl stop talking nonsense."

"How can this one disagree, when one is an employee of her house?"

"Kenshin, stop talking so humble!"

Kaoru emphasized her demand with a thump on his head.

"Oro-o-o."

"The people are sheep. They need herdsmen. Shinomori, you know it."

"After all, there is no enemy at our gates. And the oniwabanshu are not truly mine to command."

So Shinomori had felt the same lively aura approaching. It would be like him, it would be very like him, to let another stand in public while he watched from the shadows. And Misao must have heard some scraps of their talk on the way.

"Why are you all arguing? If it's about the oniwabanshu, you talk to me; the Pretty Young Head of the Kyoto Oniwabanshu!"


	5. Reaction

**Colony 6: Inland Sea, Chapter 5****, by DarkBeta**

_(Not a very big chapter; there may be more later.)_

Every time Kaoru spotted Yahiko just standing and staring she said he should be doing sword drills. Even carrying stuff around was better than that. He stayed busy setting out bedding and screens and so on.

There hadn't been a cabin for the newcomers. Tae and Tsubame had crowded into Sae's cabin. The Aioya staff found room for Megumi and Dr. Gensai and the little girls. Everyone else slept on the deck. By that time, Yahiko was so sleepy he didn't care.

Which was weird. They hadn't really done anything. No big fights, and he'd slept while the dragon carried them. Everyone had, even Kenshin, so that was okay.

But then he woke up in the dark, and he was alone. The stupid hag hadn't told him where she was going. Of course he had to find her!

It wasn't because he liked Kaoru or anything. The ugly old woman stood between her former students and yakuza; she gambled her future to rescue a street kid she'd barely met; she even mouthed off to the Wolf of Mibu. She could fight okay with a wooden sword (otherwise she'd never be able to thump him so often), but she just couldn't be trusted out of sight of someone who knew how the world worked.

The second time he stumbled over someone lying on the deck, she was oniwabanshu. He knew because of the kunai. They missed, mostly. Even the one he blocked with his shinai -- and, wow!, he'd actually been able to stop it in the dark! Maybe he wouldn't grouse as much the next time Kaoru had him practice blindfolded – would have gone past him. However they thunked into the wall behind him with a certain authority. Yahiko froze.

"Young master, I believe the one you seek went up on the bank."

The deep tones belonged to Kurojo. Being addressed respectfully felt good. After all, he was a Tokyo samurai!

"So go away and stop waking people up!" Misao added, yawning. "The pretty young head of the oniwabanshu needs her rest. Guys don't like girls who look like raccoons."

"Yeah. Weasels sleep a lot too."

"You . . . !"

"Catch her, Okon!"

Grinning, Yahiko left something that sounded like a very large catfight behind him on the deck.

He'd been up and down the path a lot before sunset. They'd tied pieces of white cotton along the guide rope and it wasn't hard to find, even in the dark. He paused at the top, aware of a presence he couldn't see.

"Your friends are over there, young master."

Shirojo was the shorter guy from the Aioya. Yahiko still couldn't see him. He heard snoring though, that had to be Sano. A bamboo mat made a pale square on the weedy ground. And Kenshin sitting with his sword leaning against his shoulder was a familiar silhouette.

Kenshin raised his head as Yahiko walked toward him. For a moment the wary alertness belonged to a stranger. Yahiko stopped.

Then, with no more than a tilt of his head, Kenshin acknowledged him. Yahiko walked the rest of the way.

"They're asleep. This one asks that you not speak too loudly."

Kaoru lay on the mat behind him, flat and calm as if she was on her own bed, with a mantle snuggled around her. Sano sprawled on the ground.

"And you're watching over them. So, okay, I'll help."

He sat beside Kenshin, leaning his bamboo sword the way Kenshin had the reverse-blade. He couldn't sit like that as easily as Kenshin did, and the air was cold up here, but that meant he wouldn't be so comfortable he fell asleep.

"It is Shirojo who stands guard now, not this one . . . ."

"Sure, but . . . can't expect strangers . . . !"

Yahiko yawned, a wide jaw-breaker that came on too fast for him to hide it. He hunched his shoulders and looked sideways, but Kenshin didn't react.

It was quiet out here. In Tokyo there'd always be something to listen for; a loud late party, shouted arguments, footsteps on the pavement, the waste cart creaking around before dawn so no-one would have to smell it, fire wardens, tofu delivery . . . .

"What's that rustling?"

"The wind. Just the wind."

. . . vendors setting up their booths so workmen could get something hot in the morning, cries of "Thief, thief!", farm carts headed to market, heavy-footed bearers . . . .

"Did you hear that?"

"A pebble falling. Nothing to worry about."

Yahiko yawned again.

"Maa, maa. This one is so foolish. Since I will be sleepy long before morning . . . it would be best if I had a companion who rested now, so he would be wakeful later."

"Um. If that's what you think is smart . . . ."

Yahiko wasn't a country bumpkin. He knew he was being indulged. He was just so sleepy! It made sense, that he'd be more use if he could keep his eyes open.

He laid down next to Kaoru on the mat. He tried to arrange himself the way she did, sleeping properly, though he knew it wouldn't last. He always woke up sprawled like a little kid.

It was chilly, but he'd slept in worse. He couldn't hear any rats. He felt himself almost rocking in the darkness, as if he was on the Yasuo still, drifting downstream.

Kaoru rolled over and hugged him. And that wasn't . . . . She wasn't . . . . But it felt . . . .

Yahiko fell asleep before he got a thought finished.

ooooooo

Emptiness. Cold. Rubble underfoot, broken stone and burnt wood, and overhead a grey featureless sky. He was alone. Nothing moved, anywhere. He was so afraid he couldn't stand. He shouted for Kenshin, for Sano, for Kaoru. Even, finally, for his mother.

"Get up. It's time for practice."

They were fighting the big guy in Kyoto, the one Kenshin's master had taken down, only this time he towered over the roofs, scattering tiles and cracking beams as he strode toward them. To challenge him Hiko had to leap from his knee to his swordarm like a locust, but Yahiko knew he'd win anyhow. Hiko was even stronger than Kenshin!

"Wake up, or I let Sano throw you in the river."

The little guy flew on a kite and threw dynamite at them. Yahiko jumped up over the roofs and smashed him down. Kaoru's sword splintered to the hilt, but she struck with it still and the sort-of-girl in a festival costume went down.

"I warned you!"

The pirate tossed him over the rail and he fell a long time toward the black surging sea, toward mouths like temple doors with teeth. The water struck him. He sat up, sputtering. The old hag smirked at him. A dripping bucket hung in her hand. Sano, damn him, laughed. Yahiko grabbed his bamboo sword.

"Ugly old woman! That water's freezing!"

He couldn't even attack her. She was a woman, and Kenshin (who could be dumb sometimes) liked her, and she was his teacher . . . .

Kaoru moved to a ready stance. She wore practice clothes, her chest bound so forgetting she was female was even easier than usual.

"You have a sword. What are you going to do with it?"

Well, if this was practice! Strike down, and down, and sideways . . . . Bamboo clacked against the wooden bucket every time. When he thrust forward she wasn't there, and the bucket came down on his head.

. . . also, she was better than him.


End file.
